Power Outages Won't Black Out Dothan Traffic Lights

Dothan traffic can get heavy at times, and if the power goes out, it can back up for miles.The circle city has 165 traffic signals.Clint Ludlum is responsible for the maintenance for all the lights.He says over the years, a lot of changes have been made.

"When I first started all, of our intersections, we were in the process of changing them over from the incandescent bulbs, to the led's," says Dothan Traffic Control Supervisor, Clint Ludlam.

Now the city has installed a five thousand dollar battery pack at two different intersections.That battery will kick in if the power ever goes out or a driver crashes into a pole.

"What they can do for public safety and traffic, and for our police and for us is a great thing," says Assistant Public Works Director Charles Metzger.

The upgrade will also keep police officers from being called out to direct traffic, and will keep traffic engineers off the streets for repairs.

"It also helps keep the officers, out of the intersection of this size, it would take two officers to direct the traffic, with the six lanes, and the four lane intersection highway, so it helps out a lot with officers especially during storms," says Dothan Traffic Control Supervisor, Clint Ludlam.

The switch from utility power to a battery back-up is so fast, when you're in your car you wouldn't even notice.

"It would be immediately, if you were sitting at the intersection, and it went from the regular power to the battery back ups you wouldn't even be able to see the lights flicker, it's that fast,” says Dothan Traffic Control Supervisor, Clint Ludlam.

One thing you'll notice is these cameras placed over a few intersections in the circle city.

"It's roughly I think 35 to 40 intersections in Dothan that work off what's video detection, a lot of people think it's the red light running cameras, but it's not, it's strictly, for detection, we don't have any recording capabilities," says Dothan Traffic Control Supervisor, Clint Ludlam.

It's two new ideas that are designed to help everyone share the road safely.

The money to buy the battery packs was made available after the city upgraded from bulbs, to l-e-d lights.The batteries will also last up to 3 to 6 hours.

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